Turfway Fatalities Probe

[bigmack]

Veterinarians with the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and management at Turfway Park are looking into reasons why the number of catastrophic injuries over the Polytrack surface spiked during the recently concluded holiday meet at the northern Kentucky track.

Dr. Bryce Peckham, state veterinarian, reported to commissioners Jan. 6 that there were eight catastrophic, or fatal, live racing injuries during the 21-day holiday meet run in late November and all of December 2008, compared with four such fatalities during the 27-day meet a year earlier....

...One of the first steps taken by Turfway en route to resolving the problem was to lift a ban on rear toe grabs, Peckham said. While the Kentucky commission and others have adopted regulations banning front toe grabs, there is no such prohibition on rear toe grabs. However, Turfway and some other tracks have their own “house rules” for horses racing at their ovals, including bans on rear toe grabs.

Scollay, who like Peckham cautioned that there are many causes for fatal breakdowns, explained that some horsemen believe an inability of horses to get good traction on their rear legs as a result of not being equipped with toe grabs -- providing better traction -- may be putting an abnormal amount of weight on the front legs, thus increasing the risk for breakdowns.

http://news.bloodhorse.com/article/48670.htm?id=48670&source=rss

[joanied]

Veterinarians with the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and management at Turfway Park are looking into reasons why the number of catastrophic injuries over the Polytrack surface spiked during the recently concluded holiday meet at the northern Kentucky track.

Dr. Bryce Peckham, state veterinarian, reported to commissioners Jan. 6 that there were eight catastrophic, or fatal, live racing injuries during the 21-day holiday meet run in late November and all of December 2008, compared with four such fatalities during the 27-day meet a year earlier....

...One of the first steps taken by Turfway en route to resolving the problem was to lift a ban on rear toe grabs, Peckham said. While the Kentucky commission and others have adopted regulations banning front toe grabs, there is no such prohibition on rear toe grabs. However, Turfway and some other tracks have their own “house rules” for horses racing at their ovals, including bans on rear toe grabs.

Scollay, who like Peckham cautioned that there are many causes for fatal breakdowns, explained that some horsemen believe an inability of horses to get good traction on their rear legs as a result of not being equipped with toe grabs -- providing better traction -- may be putting an abnormal amount of weight on the front legs, thus increasing the risk for breakdowns.

http://news.bloodhorse.com/article/48670.htm?id=48670&source=rss

I posted a thread about the breakdowns at SA...just like the one's at Turfway...what is going on?
Everyone was so pleased with both synthetic surfaces, now all of a sudden, we are having way too many breakdowns at both tracks...
are the horses at Santa Anita wearing grabs? If not, maybe 'they' need to do some research and maybe the 'answer' is that any horse running on synthetic NEEDS to wear grabs?

[bigmack]

Everyone was so pleased with both synthetic surfaces
Hang on to your lug nuts for posts debunking your 'everyone' ideation.

[salty]

Does anyone know if there is a site somewhere that has each tracks different house rules? I guess i could go to each track's site but if there is one place to look that would be nice.

-salty

[joanied]

Hang on to your lug nuts for posts debunking your 'everyone' ideation.

OK, OK...I should :bang: not have used the word 'everyone'...although I was NOT referring to any members here or race fans in general...I was referring to the track managment folks, and should have said so, and actually a lot of trainers...I had read that Turfway's surface was great, and after the breeders Cup, most folks, track managment and trainers, said it was a good surface...
so, pardon:blush: my use of a 'bad' word...and, for the record, I have always held by my opinion that dirt :ThmbUp: is the best surface...maintained right, with the correct 'ingredients', dirt is a safe surface...I hate:ThmbDown: synthetic, but IF it's as safe as 'they' claim, I'm willing to overlook my bias for dirt.

Sooooo....hope I don't have to hang on to my lug nuts...as a manner of speaking, since I don't have any:jump:

[JCB]

Maybe if they stopped racing in below zero weather the number of fatalities would go down. Cheap old horses who are one step from lame... running in bitter cold in snow and rain.... are going to have problems on any surface imo.

[jeebus1083]

I agree. These are cheap horses we are talking about here. If the horses are lame or sore, they have no business on the track.

[kenwoodallpromos]

I do not remember the last time I walked on hard rock covered by dirt or sand, but I'll bet I had to watch my footing!!

[joanied]

Maybe if they stopped racing in below zero weather the number of fatalities would go down. Cheap old horses who are one step from lame... running in bitter cold in snow and rain.... are going to have problems on any surface imo.

Below zero??? I doubt ANY track in America races in below zero weather...but you are right about horses running in very cold temps...below 32 degrees, on a hard surface...even a good warm up can't help much.
The only way to remedy that, is to go back to the good old days, when there was no racing in cold winter climates...you went to the warm states for racing.
:)